


Binge

by ChokolatteJedi



Category: NCIS
Genre: Angst, Bad Art, Challenge Response, Community: 1-million-words, Community: ncis_verse, Drinking, Embedded Images, Excessive Drinking, Gen, Put to Bed, Sketches
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-14
Updated: 2013-11-14
Packaged: 2018-01-01 17:47:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1046739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChokolatteJedi/pseuds/ChokolatteJedi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Abby visits Gibbs after a tough case</p>
            </blockquote>





	Binge

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the NCIS_Verse "Bad Art" challenge and the 1MW prompt, "Veteran."
> 
> Also made for my NCIS_Bingo card, with the prompt "Learning to be Loved."

Abby was shocked when she descended into Gibb's basement at the end of a long week. She wasn't surprised to find him down there - she couldn't actually recall ever seeing him in the rest of his house - but the state of the basement itself was a new one for her. 

The boat, which had been almost finished, now had several large chunks taken out of it, as though someone had attacked it with an axe. As she reached the bottom of the stairs, Abby saw the likely culprit, slid half beneath the last step.

Gibbs himself was a mess. Abby had seen him drink often, and drunk on rare occasion, but this was far beyond the norm. Gibbs was sitting on the floor, his legs sticking strait out, and his head lolling. "Ab?" he asked as she came into his line of sight. "S'a' 'ou?"

She was so surprised to hear his barely coherent slurring that it took Abby a full minute to reply. "Oh, Gibbs," she whispered. The case this week had been hard for everyone, including Gibbs, but when she decided to pop in for a dose of cheering, she hadn't expected him to be in this bad a shape. Abby knelt down beside him, gently removing the nearly empty scotch bottle that had been loosely clutched in his hand. She couldn't even begin to imagine how many more he had already gone through to get to this state. She should probably get him a glass of water or something, though she knew he wouldn't take it.

For now, though, Abby was content to sit beside Gibbs, offering what moral support she could in this moment of crisis, and wait for him to take the next step. After a long while - probably almost an hour - Abby was beginning to think that Gibbs had fallen asleep. Instead, he seemed to finally stir, and he slowly brought up his far hand, flopping it across his body and dropping something in Abby's lap. This motion achieved, he slumped back against her shoulder, once again simply dead weight.

His gift was a piece of construction paper, old and well creased, and now crumpled into a loose ball. Abby glanced at Gibbs for confirmation, but his eyes were closed again. Carefully, she opened the paper, realizing instantly what it must be. It was a drawing, in youthful marker, of a uniformed figure that had to be Gibbs. He was holding a gun and something else, and appeared to be in a desert. He had a large pink smile on his face, and "Hoo Ah" was written beside him. Abby couldn't help but smile at Kelly's portrait, as it couldn't be anything else. Seeing it confirmed what she had suspected the moment she had opened the door and was hit by the overwhelming smell of liquor and wood.

  
A childish drawing of a marine in fatigues in the desert. He holds a gun and a map, and the phrase 'Hoo-Ah!' is written beside him in pink and purple.

Abby glanced back at Gibbs, but he was still slumped against her, apparently out cold. She hated to leave him down here in this drafty basement, especially tonight, but as strong as she was, Abby knew she couldn't haul his dead weight all the way up to the bedroom on the second floor. After poking Gibbs to make sure he was really asleep, and getting no response, she quickly pulled out her cellphone. Thankfully, the other end was picked up after only one ring. "DiNozzo, top secret mission," she barked quietly. "If you say one word about this now or ever, I'll turn you into the newest recorded case of spontaneous human combustion. _In your favorite suit._ Now get to Gibb's house, pronto."

Hanging up before he could answer, Abby slid her phone back into her pocket. This time of night, Tony should be back in the office, getting ahead for tomorrow, so she probably only had a fifteen minute wait. While she didn't want anyone, including herself, to see Gibbs in this state, she really could use the extra manpower. And Tony would be completely discrete, once he knew how serious this was; despite his usual levity, Tony was a really great friend and she knew he had too much respect for Gibbs to ever mention this moment of weakness. And if he did, that was what her threat of flambéing was for.

While she waited, Abby did her best to clean without jostling Gibb's head off her shoulder. She kicked tools and bottles into corners, tucked a few pieces of sandpaper into the tool pouch that had fallen half beneath the boat, and carefully refolded Kelly's drawing. After a moment's thought, she tucked it into her pocket, intending to put it on the bedside table so that Gibbs would see it as soon as he woke up.

Thankfully, Tony did arrive quickly, and alone, and he soberly helped Abby drag Gibbs up the stairs. The older man didn't open his eyes once, and if she couldn't feel his faint breath on her neck, Abby might have thought him dead. While Tony arranged him on his side so that he wouldn't choke, Abby went down to the kitchen to get him a glass of water. While there, she noticed a pen and pad of paper by the phone and grabbed them. Once everything was settled to her satisfaction, Abby and Tony left, trading somber nods as they got into their respective cars.

oOo

The next morning, Gibbs woke with an Earth-splitting headache, in a room he never used. As the rest of the world came into focus, he found the bedside table, which held a glass of water, 2 aspirin, and two folded pieces of paper. He recognized one instantly - a drawing of Kelly's that he never showed anyone - and beside it was a penned sketch that his fuzzy mind decided must be from Abby.

  
A black and white stick figure of Gibbs on a sail boat, saying 'Hoo-Ahhhhhh', with an umbrella drink and a fishing pole. A little fish is about to nibble on his hook.

On the back, she had written, _The next case can wait. You're taking the weekend off. Go catch me a giant fish. Love, Abs_

**Author's Note:**

> Links to the two images:  
> [Kelly's](http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i192/goldstreaked_blob/Lands/Bad1.jpg)  
> [Abby's](http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i192/goldstreaked_blob/Lands/Bad2.jpg)


End file.
